sam taggart dot com

If you were at SXSWi this year or have ever been, then you know exactly how rad an experience it is. It’s a once-per-year gathering in Austin, TX of thousands of creative and super smart people who are all there because they want to be. I met some really awesome people in Austin, and asked a few of them to give me a list of their nine favorite things about SXSWi 09. With their responses and mine, I compiled 81 (9 peeps x 9 responses each) reasons why SXSWi rawked! Here are mine…

1. The chance to hang out with friends and the new friends I made. You know who you are. I love you all.
2. The awesome, awesomely good barbeque. Jalapeño Beef Brisket Taco + Sweet Tea. ‘Nuff Said.
3. Austin, TX. A great town with a lot of energy & live music blasting out of every bar from late afternoon till the early morning.
4. Long island iced teas.
5. “At a gay bar with @garyvee.”
6. Late Night Jam Sessions full of enlightening conversation and brilliant people.
7. The vibe. The creativity & the passion. Hard to explain, maybe it was caused by…
8. …being surrounded by thousands of geeks at any given time (c’mon admit it! we’re geeks!).
9. A 3 hour flight delay out of Austin which led to a first class ride out of Houston.

And here’s a sample of what the friends I asked said… (Or the complete list)

AJ Vaynerchuk (@AJV)

1. Hanging out with my brother.
2. Late night pow wows.
3. Intelligent conversation.

Chris Hutchins (@hutchins)

1. The People - hands down, if there’s one reason to go to SXSW it’s for the opportunity to be surrounded by so many brilliant minds.
2. Unexplained Craziness - Gary Vaynerchuk brought hundreds of geeks to Rain, a gay bar, to party and drink wine.
3. Jam Sessions - All night Jam Sessions about politics, business and everything else were the highlight of my trip.
4. Learning Opportunities - If there was anything you were interested in learning about there were at least 10 people at SXSW that would be more than willing to teach it to you.

Nate Westheimer (@innonate)

1. Launching my new show, TheInterwebs.tv.
2. BBQ.
3. Shiner Bock.
4. Free Shiner Bock!
5. Playing foursquare (playfoursquare.com) and Paparazzi (socialbomb.com).

Thomas Edwards (@recklessstudio)

1. Hanging out in the Blogger’s Lounge.
2. Got to finally meet people I only met online - and they were even cooler in person.
3. Made me realize the amount of potential I have to become a force in the space.
4. This happens EVERY year!

Ari J. Greenberg (@agreenberg)

1. The TechSet bloggers lounge
2. The WiFi at the Convention Center
3. GaryVee’s wine party at Rain
4. The awesome people

Owen JJ Stone (@ohdoctah)

1. Meeting CEO’s of some of my favorite sites and products and them not being jerks! Its always nice to meet good ppl!
2. Running into friends that I have know online for a long time and finally getting to shake there hands and give them hugs. In the end its all about connecting to people and real world connection is the final link.
3. The Vaynerchuks - good guys. If people would listen to them it goes Family, Love, Passion, Money and not the other way around! and I got love for those guys!
4. Almost all of the panels I went to were worth wild. The opportunity to be able to pick and choose what voice you want to hear and see them live and shake there hand is amazing.

Lawain McNeil (@lawain)

1. There were so many young adults (under the age of 30) who were bright, articulate and fun to talk to.  Their knowledge and love of technology and their willingness to share was refreshing.
2. I was really glad that I met Chris Hutchins, the founder of LaidOff Camp.  Many talented people have lost their job in the current economy.  To hear about a young guy (himself laid off from his job as an IB) doing something positive and giving back is a reminder of what it means to help.  Thanks Chris.
3. Watching a random meeting and discussion come together that was the result of Chris Brogan Twittering about it.  It is evidence that social media is real and can result in creating real conversations and discussions.
4. Hanging in the Blogger’s Lounge.  An eclectic group of individuals that was fun to talk to.  Awesome watching @ohdoctah interview Paula Nelson.

Kelly Sutton (@kellysutton)

1. The parties - Open bars? Enough said.
2. Speaking on a panel - Great first time experience. It’s always good to get experience on the other side of the table.
3. Meeting Internet famous people - They are always really down to earth and willing to talk.
4. Not having a schedule - Flying by the seat of your pants felt like exactly that: flying

What an amazing time… If you were at SXSWi this year, @reply me your #1 reason why you loved it! If you weren’t, will you be at SXSWi next year?

To the contributors, you guys rawk! Thanks for helping me out. If you don’t know who these guys are, click on the twitter account next to their names and follow away, because they’re all good people. Nay! GREAT people!

And remember, check out the complete list. It was hard to cut it down!